Saturday 10/18?

[Peter_C]

We'll be out on the Monterey Express, morning trip. It's a good boat and I believe there is still room.

It is a good boat, BUT Captain Tim tried to kill us. So my saying goes, but he did put us in danger for no reason other than selfishness. The first dive went smoothly, but the second started having problems before ever leaving the boat. First kicking us off the boat "Get off my boat, you are cutting into my beer time" with too short of and SI after pushing our NDL's. Then on our second dive he sounded the recall siren when we were on our deco. No reason too since we were the last divers in the water, and there was no emergency other than the fact he wanted to drink beer. He then proceeded to tell us "Others on the boat are cold and complaining", when in fact our friend was in a wetsuit, sat the second dive out due to seasickness, and said "No one ever complained". Why lie? Oh because he wanted to drink beer since it was Saint Patty's day.

They tried to anchor on Ball Buster but could not get the anchor to stick after a few tries (The swells were not bad either), very lame in my book. We wound up at Hopkins Deep, then just moved closer to shore hence the short SI.

 

[Chuck Tribolet]

It is a good boat, BUT Captain Tim tried to kill us. So my saying goes, but he did put us in danger for no reason other than selfishness. The first dive went smoothly, but the second started having problems before ever leaving the boat. First kicking us off the boat "Get off my boat, you are cutting into my beer time" with too short of and SI after pushing our NDL's. Then on our second dive he sounded the recall siren when we were on our deco. No reason too since we were the last divers in the water, and there was no emergency other than the fact he wanted to drink beer. He then proceeded to tell us "Others on the boat are cold and complaining", when in fact our friend was in a wetsuit, sat the second dive out due to seasickness, and said "No one ever complained". Why lie? Oh because he wanted to drink beer since it was Saint Patty's day.

They tried to anchor on Ball Buster but could not get the anchor to stick after a few tries (The swells were not bad either), very lame in my book. We wound up at Hopkins Deep, then just moved closer to shore hence the short SI.

The Express is not the right boat to be doing deco dives from. If there's any boat in
Monterey that's recreational, it's the Express. And I can't see doing deco dives at
Hopkins Deep and Hopkins not so deep.

Patty is a girl's nickname. It's St. Paddy, short for the proper Irish Padraeg.

What year was this?

St. Patrick's Day 2008 (Sat, March 15):

...NW WINDS 15 TO 25 KT. WIND WAVES 3 TO 5 FT. W SWELL 8 TO 12
FT AT 13 SECONDS. SHOWERS AND A SLIGHT CHANCE OF THUNDERSTORMS IN
THE AFTERNOON.

I did trailer maintenance. And I can't see backing off all the way to Hopkins' Deep if
Ballbuster was ALMOST doable.

Tim's "you're eating into my beer time" is just his way of trying to herd house cats
(divers) and keep them moving.

And a final note: the place to anchor at Ballbuster is NOT on top on all the invert life.
Anchor in the sand, just barely downwind of the rock. If you are on a boat that does
anchor on top, please give them some flack for it.

 

[Peter_C]

The Express is not the right boat to be doing deco dives from. If there's any boat in
Monterey that's recreational, it's the Express. And I can't see doing deco dives at
Hopkins Deep and Hopkins not so deep.

I never said we were deco diving, and we were still within our NDL's, but barely. I only had a single HP100 on each dive, with my buddy diving double 100's that day. My mistake for not saying, "Our safety stop". Something we always do...

Patty is a girl's nickname. It's St. Paddy, short for the proper Irish Padraeg.

Thanks for the lesson

What year was this?

St. Patrick's Day 2008 (Sat, March 15):

...NW WINDS 15 TO 25 KT. WIND WAVES 3 TO 5 FT. W SWELL 8 TO 12
FT AT 13 SECONDS. SHOWERS AND A SLIGHT CHANCE OF THUNDERSTORMS IN
THE AFTERNOON.

I did trailer maintenance. And I can't see backing off all the way to Hopkins' Deep if
Ballbuster was ALMOST doable.

It was 2007-03-17 and the conditions were not very rough.

Tim's "you're eating into my beer time" is just his way of trying to herd house cats
(divers) and keep them moving.

I don't really care what he says to get people off his boat, BUT don't do it when someone needs off gassing time. The alcohol reference is very tacky and unprofessional in my opinion.

And a final note: the place to anchor at Ballbuster is NOT on top on all the invert life.
Anchor in the sand, just barely downwind of the rock. If you are on a boat that does
anchor on top, please give them some flack for it.

I wasn't really paying attention to where they were trying to anchor, but they could not get it to stick when they backed down. After numerous tries they gave up. Again not very professional in my opinion.

The only times I have had good experiences boat diving in Monterey were off of private boats. Typically I use a scooter or kayak to get to the dive sites as I sold my flat water Nautique and have not replaced it with an ocean going boat YET! The Escapade is a great boat, but the last time I dove with them conditions were horrible, no fault of theirs. I have dove off of the Beach Hopper II also with not the greatest results for multiple reasons.

 

[penywisexx]

Since neither of us have dived Monterey before and since we couldn't find a dive buddy, we've decided to do a few shore dives probably one at the breakwater and one at cannery beach, does anybody have recomendations for us, we're hitting the water around noon-ish if things go as planned.

 

[Chuck Tribolet]

Breakwater: Do the breakwall. Surface swim to about the bathrooms or a bit beyond. Drop and follow the wall out
till 1500 PSI, then turn back. Surface at 500, surface swim in. Keep your reg in your mouth on
entry and exit.

 

[rstofer]

Tell me about this crystallized ginger? Where do I get it, and what is the dose?

Ginger Snaps cookies will work just as well. Another secret from sailing: Saltine Crackers. OK, most people know that piece of trivia. But the real lesson from sailing is to store the crackers somewhere on deck (lazarette, etc). They are no help if you have to go below deck to get them. Not that I have personally made that mistake...

Richard

 

[bbianchi]

I found some ginger candies called gin gin's that are apparently made in Marina. They seem to work, granted I ate quite a few

 

[bbianchi]

I have only been on the Escapade and the Cypress Sea but both were great experiences.

 

[Anti-Hero]

GINGER DOES NOT DO *****!!!

I bought some ginger "beer" (like rootbeer) with 24 grams of fresh ginger in each bottle. Drank 1 the night before, and 1 about an hour before the boat, and on the SI between dive 1 and 2. I think I raised the bay a couple inches I hurled so much. But I'lll be damed if I don't feel like a million bucks after I let loose. Dive 2 was EXCELLENT! Even with a 2000 PSI short fill in my tanks.

 

[Chuck Tribolet]

Be very careful with Dramamine. It makes some people (like me) very sleepy. One of the two
scariest things that have happened to me diving was dropping a Dramamine at home before
driving down to meet the Cypress Sea. It really kicked in about Hwy 156.

I use Dramamine as a sleeping pill on red-eyes.